Related

Gout?
Drink Coffee!
High
levels of uric acid in the blood are related to incidence of gout, which
is the most common form of arthritis among adult males. Since coffee is
one of the most commonly-consumed beverages in the world, does it have
an effect on the incidence of gout?

What is the best diet for both diabetes and gout?
I have a friend who lives with both diabetes and gout. He doesn't handle either of these conditions particularly well. He and his wife recently went to a small seminar and asked the dietitian there for some tips on handling diet when one does have both diabetes and gout. She was really unable to answer him! She didn't even refer him to some literature or advise him where to find good information.

What can I eat for gout?
I am a 48 year old male who has suffered with gout for some years now, and I have gotten to the point where I am so discouraged and depressed with all of the controversy over certain food and beverage items, such as coffee and various protein types. Is alkalyzing the blood important or does it just complicate gout?

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Gout
and Heart Disease

Remember
back in Algebra class, when you learned that if A = B and B = C, then A
= C? Well, medicine doesn't always work like math, with simple, straightforward
lines of reasoning. Here's a good example:

Gout
is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by high levels of uric
acid in the blood (hyperuricemia). Studies have shown that many inflammatory
disorders are associated with premature death from various causes. Other
studies, however, have NOT seen any link between hyperuricemia and heart
disease. So is gout linked to heart disease and premature death, or not?
Researchers at Harvard University, together with colleagues from the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver, devised a prospective study (one following
subjects over time) to see if they could clarify the relationship, if any,
between heart disease and gout. Their findings were published in the most
recent issue of Circulation (2007;116:894-900).

The
researchers made use of data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
This large-scale study followed over 51,000 male health professionals beginning
in 1986. The subjects' demographics, health status for various diseases
and conditions, and personal habits were evaluated by written questionnaire
every two years. Using that information, plus supplemental questionnaires
specifically concerning gout, the researchers were able to correlate the
respondents who reported having a diagnosis of gout with their incidence
of heart disease.

They
found that compared to those men who did not have gout at the start of
the study, those who did have gout were more likely to die of heart disease
than those without. Their risk, in fact, increased by 55%. Further, the
longer a subject had gout, the more likely they were to die of heart disease:
up to 78% more likely for those with gout for over 11 years.

What
this means for you

If
you are diagnosed with gout, you'll want to confer with your doctor about
your risk of heart disease and do all you can to avoid it. In the mean
time, as I've reported in another News Bite (May
30, 2007), be sure to drink coffee!